NIDA stays up to date on drug use trends. At the end of 2012, we noticed a huge spike in the number of searches on the NIDA for Teens Web site for information on “Molly,” a club drug made from MDMA, the pure form of Ecstasy.
Mostly, Molly is abused at clubs and concerts and is referred to in electronic music. Now, rap and hip hop are mentioning the drug more often.
In 2012, several major artists released songs that referenced Molly:
- Kanye West, “Mercy”: “Something about Mary, she gone off that Molly / Now the whole party is melted like Dalí.”
- Trinidad James, “All Gold Everything”: “Popped a Molly and now I’m sweating, woo!”
- Rihanna, “Diamonds”: “Palms rise to the universe, as we moonshine and Molly / Feel the warmth, we’ll never die / We’re like diamonds in the sky.”
While many of these songs focus on the euphoria Molly can cause, they leave out the dangers it poses to the brain and body. To find out indepth information about how Molly affects the brain, check out this three-part series on MDMA.
Molly may be a hot topic in pop culture, but most teens steer clear of the drug. In 2012, NIDA’s Monitoring the Future survey found that only 7.2% of 12th graders had used Ecstasy in their lifetimes—a 4.5% decrease from 2011.
Tell us: Does rap music influence what you and your friends do, like what you wear? Do references in rap songs make you want to seek out the facts?
